Check It Out

River Valley Yoga Center is now open at 30 North Maple St. in Florence.

The studio is focused on yoga as a therapeutic tool to improve structural strength, flexibility, balance and an overall feeling of good health. Owners Susan Elena Esquivel and Suzie Goldstein are influenced by the hatha yoga tradition of B.K.S. Iyengar.

The studio is open seven days a week and provides a variety of daily classes as well as private lessons. The studio is currently running a $5 February special, through which new students can try one class in February for $5. For more information, contact River Valley Yoga Center at (413) 584-1414 or email them at contact@rivervalleyyoga.com.

‘MINI-MEDICAL SCHOOL’

Baystate Medical Center’s Mini-Medical School, which begins its spring session March 21, is an eight-week health education series featuring a different aspect of medicine each week. Classes this spring will include sessions on various medical topics such as surgery, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, pathology and pediatrics, and are taught by medical center faculty.

The program helps participants make more informed decisions about their health care while learning what it is like to be a medical student — minus the tests, interviews and admission formalities.

All classes are held Thursday nights starting at 6 p.m. and run until 8 or 9. No science knowledge is needed to participate. Each participant is required to attend a minimum of six out of eight classes to receive a certificate of completion.

Tuition is $95 per person and $80 for Senior Class, Spirit of Women, and Men’s Health members. To register, call Baystate HealthLink at 413-794-2255 or 1-800-377-4325. For more information, visit www.baystatehealth.org/minimed.

THERAPIST JOINSREHABILITATION SERVICES

Physical therapist Alicia Robinson has joined the Rehabilitation Services staff at 21B Elm St., South Deerfield.

Robinson cares for adults and adolescents with orthopedic conditions, sports injuries, gait and balance problems, as well as people who have had orthopedic surgery, including total joint replacements, and require a regimented post-surgical physical therapy program.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (413) 665-7427.